Hercules's Cradle
by Persephone Kore
Summary: TCP. Warning: Controversial issues. Some mutants are... precocious.


_Disclaimer: This is a The Common People (conceptualized as a subgenre by Phil Foster and Kielle) fanfic set in the Marvel Universe. The most direct references are the mutant/nonmutant conflict and the prenatal test with the 50% false-positive rate discussed in X-Factor some time back. I make no claims on anything which does not belong to me, and I expect no material profit to me to result from this story._

**Hercules's Cradle  
by Persephone**

I can do this. I can't ruin my whole life for one stupid careless mistake. It was an accident. I could do _anything_ -- I'm about to graduate summa cum laude, for heaven's sake! I'm going on to grad school and I've got a better summer job than most people ever find in their whole career. They want me to stay, or at least come back.

I've saved up all I could, applied for fellowships and loans -- I can't afford the medical costs, much less a _baby_, and still stay in school. I bet I couldn't get a decent job like this, either, if the one I've got weren't so fond of me. If I don't stay at least part-time I might not be able to get that back; they need somebody in the position and I can't blame them if they fill it. 

I could ask my parents for help, but they'd kill me. Although I got that test done and there's at least a 50% chance it's a mutant, so they might at least support this decision. They'd still kill me for doing something that stupid to start with, though. Mom always said if I was going to fool around I'd better be careful.

I'd make a lousy parent anyway. A baby needs more attention than I could give one, especially with school.

I'm sure of myself, just nervous. I've always hated pelvic exams, even though I knew I'd be more comfortable if I'd just relax. It's just nerves, that's all.

I always was pro-choice. Well, I'm choosing. This pregnancy isn't going to term.

"I'm about to begin."

"Thank you, Doctor." He's really nice.

Deep breath. 

Okay, LOTS of deep breaths, I don't believe it, I never saw anybody die before. Maybe he's not dead, maybe he just didn't eat breakfast and fainted. He fell down right on the floor between my feet. He doesn't look good. 

Get down on floor. Check pulse. Remember my first aid classes.

No pulse. 

Start CPR -- no. Call first. Should've yelled first thing. Would've helped if I hadn't been hyperventilating.

"HELP! Somebody help!"

Running feet.

Don't let him really be dead. Dear God, please. 

*****

Dr. Robert Smith of Burlington, Ohio died Wednesday at 3:40 PM while at work at the city Family Health Clinic. Death is attributed to a previously undiagnosed aneurysm. He is survived by....

*****

That was... really weird. And very sad. I couldn't stop shaking for the longest time, even after they finished questioning me about what happened. They aren't even sure what killed him, even though they gave the newspapers their best guess and of course it got printed as if it were a fact. 

They gave me another appointment for next week, since everybody was kind of shaken up at the time. 

Nobody thinks I did it. I'm relieved about that, anyway; I was worried, being the only one there. I know that's horribly selfish to be thinking about at a time like that, but I couldn't help it. It's only natural; it's not like it would have helped him if I hadn't been worried, either. 

It's only natural to worry that maybe I did have something to do with it, but I didn't. Making too much out of coincidences is just superstition.

Of course, now my parents know. Not from the media, though I wasn't sure about that, but I had to talk to them after _that_. They took the news better than I'd have expected. About me getting pregnant, not the doctor dying. You can't really take somebody dropping dead _well_ unless there's something seriously wrong with you.

Next week. Then everything will be okay.

*****

It happened again. 

It's got to be coincidence. Right? I didn't DO anything. 

I got another appointment. Tomorrow actually. The secretary laughed nervously and said that if this happened a third time I wasn't getting rescheduled. 

I used to like dark humor. I laughed too, but now I just feel kind of cold.

I need to settle down. It's not anybody's fault. Maybe there's something about the building that's finally started hitting people. I've been reading about "sick buildings." 

*****

I....

I'm really getting scared now. 

And I have to get another appointment somewhere pretty soon. If it takes much longer it'll be past the point where I'd feel comfortable having an abortion. It's already well past when most natural abortions occur. That's kind of an odd thing to have known since I was six, but Mom lost three babies before I was born. 

I wish I'd found out about this _sooner_. It sounds stupid, but I passed the whole thing off as a little weight gain -- I'd been eating too much junk food, okay, I admit it -- until I looked at my birth control pills one day. 

The placebos weren't in the same place I'd thought they were. 

Then I thought about when I'd switched prescriptions.

It's so stupid, but it would all be very funny if it weren't for the lousy timing. 

I mean that part would. 

Not the... not the deaths. 

The clinic's getting investigated. I took a lie detector test. I think it said I panicked consistently the whole time. At least they let me go home.

*****

FREAK COINCIDENCE OR SERIAL KILLER?

Eleven doctors have recently died in the act of preparing to administer an abortion. For a time this was attributed to coincidence, then possibly to the action of some unusually subtle "pro-life" group. Nobody could figure out how. 

Until now.

Comparing records has shown that all eleven were attempting to provide their services to the same young woman. We suspect her of having volunteered or been employed as an assassin....

*****

TROJAN HORSE ASSASSIN'S COUNT REACHES FOURTEEN

She's slowed down and started using an assumed name, but she's still going.

Three more doctors who apparently missed or ignored the warnings....

*****

They think I did it! They think _I_ did it. I don't believe this. I didn't! I swear I didn't. 

At least not on purpose. 

*****

MUTANT PRO-LIFE ASSASSIN

...A detector installed in the clinic registered a spike of mutant activity at the time of death of the fifteenth victim. The source is unclear, raising in some minds the alternative possibility of a vendetta against the main suspect, who has blood tests on record as indicating against mutancy, by the real assassin. 

Ladies and gentlemen, let us present Occam's Razor: The solution requiring the fewest assumptions is the most probable.

All providers nationwide are encouraged to take all possible precautions....

*****

I don't believe this. I've tried to explain.... This is too much to be coincidence though! If _I_ think so, what chance have I got?

One.

But why would there be a mutant after me? What did I ever do to any of them?

I've _got_ to get this done. This is ridiculous. 

Stay AWAY from me, whoever you are!

If I'm not doing it, I could start to think it was my baby....

That's crazy. 

*****

SIXTEENTH VICTIM CLAIMED, ASSASSIN ARRESTED

*****

"But the blood test says she's not a mutant, so I'm not sure we can --"

"The energy readings say she IS, or else she's got to be in cahoots with one. She's the only common factor. What more do you _want_?"

"Didn'tcha hear, boys? She got that new amniotic fluid test done. Tadpole's got a 50-50 chance of being a mutie." 

Silence.

"Oh, come on. You can't possibly think...."

"That's ridiculous."

*****

I'm scared. I'm so scared. I can't see anymore; I can't hear.

They all want me to die. Even Her. 

I can't kill Her. I can kill them all.

Killing Her would kill me too. 

Scared scared scared.

I don't know how I know that; I just do.

If I kill the rest of them I don't die. 

She wants me to.

Aren't _I_ supposed to get a choice?

Any choices?

...Scared.

I can't see anything but dark; it's warm and something's thumping, but I can't see now.

Scared scared scared.

I can kill if I have to but I can't change their minds. 

I can kill them all but I can't kill Her, I can kill them all but I can't make Her love me....

*****

I'm... in jail. I'm in JAIL. With... with a collar on. I never knew these were so uncomfortable.

I'M NOT EVEN A MUTANT! 

I'm in jail.

Maybe it IS....

Then wouldn't it be self defense? 

But it's _dangerous_. 

It can't be. CAN'T. 

Maybe it is.

I said I wasn't going to term.

Come on. Okay. 

Didn't girls use coathangers back when this was illegal...? 

Cold. Ow. ...Getting kind of dizzy....

*****

Mommy?

*****


End file.
